This past June, my wife and I were driving to a remote Portuguese town, when a landfill appeared on the horizon.

Even from a distance, it was easy to recognize the manmade hill; trailer-sized blocks of compacted, brown and white trash, stacked and tumbled into disorganized heaps like some giant toddler’s Lego pile.

Our car windows were down to enjoy the temperate air, and my wife was dozing in the passenger seat. Since the only alternate routes involved goat paths, I faced a dilemma:

Should I wake my wife up by closing the car windows, and alert her to the unpleasant landmark ahead, or should I hope that the smell would be tolerable while we drove by, leaving her asleep and unaware?

I chose to wake her. (After all, travel is about sharing the adventure.) But, the potential stain on our mental travelogues never materialized, because the trash heaps turned out to be…

Marble.

Gorgeous, 15-ton slabs of Portuguese marble excavated from one of the world’s premier quarries. So much marble, that enormous slabs were strewn about and piled into landfill-shaped hillocks.

Nearby, in Estremoz (pronounced the way Sean Connery would say “stray moss”), we admired, and purchased, stunning art sculpted from blocks of the local stone.

Your goal is easy: unearth great projects that other consulting firms decline.

A few guidelines may help you distinguish diamonds from dross, and rubies from rubbish.

When Garbage is Garbage

Too Small

Yourconsulting firm should have a minimum acceptable project size, below which youreject opportunities. Although small projects can sometimes be a gateway tolarger engagements, more often they are low-return, resource drains.

Low Margin

Similarly, skip unprofitable projects. This sounds obvious, of course; however, I’m amazed at how many consulting firms accept unalluring projects that deliver minuscule or negative margin for their firm.

Strategic Distraction

Flee from projectsthat appear unattractive and also would jerk you far away from your targetmarket or core offering.

Unpleasant Client

There’s no reason to accept consulting projects from clients who are ill-mannered, inconsiderate, rude, or don’t pay on time. Leave those ugly opportunities behind.

When Garbage is Gold

Unsexy

Manyconsulting firms walk away when the industry, problem or client are decidedly notsexy.

If yourminimum consulting project size is $10 million, then you need to fix yourtarget firmly on huge companies. However, if your minimum project is $100,000or less), then there are plenty of obscure clients who could hire you.

Difficult to Service

Consultingprospects may be difficult to serve because they are geographically remote, demandsignificant hand-holding, or require complex (and expensive) projectmanagement.

Other consulting firms look at these opportunities as money-losing nightmares. For your consulting firm, they can be an opportunity to shine while improving the effectiveness and efficiency you’ll apply across your client portfolio.